Cricket World Cup 2011: Sachin Tendulkar can inspire India to victory

The 10th World Cup begins on Saturday in Dhaka when Bangladesh entertain
India. It should be a cracker, with a full house guaranteed as the underdogs
yap at their big neighbours, hopeful of a repeat of their shock victory four
years ago in the Caribbean. It should presage a tournament full of vibrancy
and madcap bustle.

Little Master: Sachin Tendulkar can set the World Cup alight on his home turfPhoto: AP

But are you really excited? I think I know the answer. And Bryan Adams singing at Thursday’s opening ceremony is hardly going to change it. So hung-over from Ashes euphoria that a 6-1 one-day thrashing barely registered, we are hardly at fever pitch. The temptation —the exhortation from many – is to hit the snooze button and reawaken on March 23 for the quarter-finals.

Just like the last tournament in the West Indies four years ago this one looks too long (43 days thanks to the bounties of a broadcasting deal). There might be an upset, but probably not one of prolonged significance. The newly designed group stages exist to eliminate the four associate members of the International Cricket Council – Canada, Ireland, Kenya and Holland – and two others, very likely to be Zimbabwe and either Bangladesh or the West Indies.

The tournament director, Ratnakar Shetty, has admitted as much. In 2007 both India and Pakistan failed to make it into the not-so-super Super Eights stage. That must not happen again. “Economically, we all know India is the financial powerhouse of cricket,’’ Shetty said last week, “The exit of India and Pakistan from the 2007 World Cup was a disaster for the tournament. The sponsors, broadcasters, tour operators, the West Indies board – all lost a lot of money.’’

There we go then. Turn over and snooze. But, before you do, please stop to consider this for a moment: it is thoroughly inconceivable that this tournament will be as grim as 2007. That truly was a shambles.

The death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer did not help, but even without it, the tournament lacked fun, occasion and spectators. Tickets were overpriced, new stadiums were far away and unloved, and officious ground stewards gave jobsworths bad names. It was wholly fitting that the final should end in farce, as the players returned to the field in darkness with eventual winners Australia thinking they had already beaten Sri Lanka.

This will be different. It is impossible to exaggerate Asia’s passion for cricket. Crowds will flock. Tickets will be much sought after. There are tales of people in Bangladesh queuing all day and night for two days last month; a reminder also that, yes, there will be times of chaos, as already highlighted by the unreadiness of Eden Gardens for England’s scheduled visit on Feb 27. This is Asia, after all (the road to the Chittagong ground was still being dug up last week).

All home games involving India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will be sold out. The challenge will be to fill stadiums for neutral matches. For those the gates will be thrown open to local schoolchildren. Heck, the cricket might not even be that tedious. The minnows still have to be caught and put in the keep net. It doesn’t always happen so easily, as Pakistan discovered in 2007 with Ireland.

There will be eager jostling for places in each group of seven. With the greatest respect, the quarter-final in Ahmedabad will be the least attractive (two are in Dhaka, another in Colombo). If England finish third in Group B (possibly behind India and South Africa), that will be their destination.

England travelled to Dhaka yesterday in a curious state. Their preparation – physically, mentally and results-wise – has been dire. Their one-day international record in Asia is dire – they may be unbeaten in Bangladesh in six matches, but they only have 13 wins from 34 in India (and only one in their last 12) and four from 13 in Sri Lanka. It would be easy to dismiss this as another ill-fated and hopeless campaign, the sort that has seen England fail to reach the semi-finals since finishing runners-up in 1992.

But they travel with hope. And rightly so. Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have done too much mindset-altering for it all to be blown asunder by a few horrible weeks in Australia. Since adopting a braver approach prior to the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2009, England have improved markedly. Before the recent debacle, series had been won against South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh (twice) and Pakistan.

Eoin Morgan’s absence with a broken finger will be keenly felt, especially for his meaty smacks out of the ground. Apart from Kevin Pietersen, who on Saturday used Twitter to deny reports he was planning to retire from one-day cricket after the tournament, England don’t do sixes particularly well.

It made Ravi Bopara, who is so strong over midwicket late on, the obvious replacement, and goes some way to explaining Luke Wright’s continuing inclusion. Wright can plunder. If a way can be found into the side for him, England consider him their best batsman to take advantage of the batting powerplay, a period they have tackled with the skill and subtlety of a bull presented with a closed gate.

No matter how England play, they will be well received in India. This is their first visit since 2008, when, courageously and defiantly, the team under Pietersen (his reign as a leader lasted only a few more weeks) returned after leaving briefly after the Mumbai atrocities. Indian cricket fans will not have forgotten the gesture.

That said, let us all pray the spectre of terror does not reappear. Pakistan were slated to co-host this tournament but that became impossible after the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore. And the last World Cup in Asia, in 1996, was disrupted by the refusal of Australia and New Zealand to play in Colombo so soon after a bomb blast.

A long time ago 1996. So long that it was only Sachin Tendulkar’s second World Cup. This is his sixth, a record. It will surely be his last, although that was the opinion of many in 2007.

Since then Tendulkar has taken to opening the batting, and the most Indian of summers has cloaked his career. He has a record that cannot surely be broken: 17,629 one-day-international runs at 44.97 with a staggering 46 centuries (and a double), as well as a hasty enough strike rate of 86.18. Attention will stalk his every move, as it will the India team – that is nothing new.

Muttiah Muralitharan might have his own farewell planned too, and Sri Lanka are serious contenders along with Australia and South Africa (with England as dark horses), but for me this will be Tendulkar and India’s tournament. And therefore a memorable one it will be.